THE LAW & THE PROPHETS Week 2: Why the Law Still Matters This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide 1. LEADER PREPARATION LESSON OVERVIEW This lesson builds on our previous discussion on the purpose of the Old Testament Law, including the Ten Commandments. At first glance, it seem righteousness or right standing with God could be attained by keeping the Law of Moses. But it is impossible to keep 100 percent of the Law 100 percent of the time. Today we will examine how the Law was given to expose our sin and make us accountable to God. Our righteousness doesn t come from perfectly walking the tightrope of the Law but through placing our faith in Jesus Christ. LESSON OBJECTIVES 1. WHAT: God gave us the Law to show us our sin and point us toward Jesus as the source of salvation and forgiveness. 2. WHY: As Christians who have experienced God s grace, we can easily overlook the significance of the Old Testament Law. 3. HOW: Encourage your teenagers to have a greater appreciation for God s grace and mercy. PRIMARY SCRIPTURE Romans 3:19-31 SECONDARY SCRIPTURES Acts 5:34, 22:3, 23:6; Romans 11:1; and Philippians 3:5 TEACHING PREP The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you ll definitely want to refer to it as you lead. Read Romans 3:19-31. Paul provides a powerful overview of our Christian beliefs in the book of Romans. Most of the book (chapters 1-11) deals with reconciling the Law of Moses with faith in Christ. The last five chapters (12-16) concern practical application of these beliefs. This lesson s primary passage helps us discover why the Law still matters. In our previous lesson, we discussed the Ten Commandments, which formed the foundation for the Law in the Old Testament. As you read through the rest of the Pentateuch the first five books of the Old Testament you discover a host of other rules, guidelines, instructions, and commandments from God. So when Paul wrote about the Law, he was addressing more than just the Ten Commandments. It s not an exaggeration to say Paul was Jewish to the core. He came from the right family (Acts 23:6; Romans 11:1), observed all the religious rituals (Philippians 3:5), and was educated in the right schools (Acts 5:34; 22:3). He knew the Law and what it meant before
and after the Messiah. We also know that Paul was skilled in debate. He asked rhetorical questions (Romans 3:27-31) and provided the answers to the readers. Since Paul was a Jew s Jew, he knew what he was talking about when he discussed the Law. THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional] Text Message Questions We ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry. How do you know when you ve done something wrong? Is it more than feelings? Let s talk about it tonight at small group. Need to get out of jail free? Don t miss small group tonight.
THE LAW & THE PROPHETS Week 2: Why the Law Still Matters 2. LESSON GUIDE GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional] Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and then open with this Video Clip. Show a scene from the comedy Home Alone (rated PG). In this movie, the McCallister family takes a trip but accidentally leaves 8-year-old Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) behind. This particular scene shows Kevin enjoying his freedom now that no one is at home to enforce the rules on him. Start the DVD at 0:22:00 into the movie as Kevin is jumping on the bed. End the clip at 0:23:30, as Kevin shuts the door closed. Is this typical of the way most kids would react if they thought their family members had suddenly disappeared? Why or why not? As you get older, you re given greater freedom. What are the benefits of having more freedom? What are some of the risks? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: As you re getting older, you re discovering the many joys of freedom but you re also discovering the consequences of your choices and the importance of responsibility. In our previous lesson, we talked about the purpose of the Old Testament Law; today we ll discover why the Law still matters. If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group, and you d like to share it with other youth workers, please email us at ideas@simplyyouthministry.com. TEACHING POINTS The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are (1) The Law helps us understand our sin, (2) The Law helps us believe in Jesus, and (3) The Law helps us accept God s grace. Remember: All throughout these lessons, it s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you use, and (2) the wording of the main points keep ours, or change the wording to make it clearer for your students. Read Romans 3:19-31 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read the text. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: This passage teaches us that we experience forgiveness through Jesus sacrifice on the cross, not through our obedience to the Old Testament Law. Yet we can still discover some ways the Old Testament Law remains important to us today.
1. The Law helps us understand our sin What would life be like if no one ever told you the rules such as the rules for driving or for a particular sport yet still held you accountable if you broke one of those rules? Look at verse 19. What is an example of an excuse you ve given recently for a sin that you willingly committed? Or what might be an excuse someone would give for a particular sin? Look at verse 20. Why would God tell us we had to perfectly keep the commandments when God knew no one (except Jesus) could do it? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Paul is clear in this passage that the Law was given to make our sin visible to us and to reveal that we are all sinners. No one can live a perfect life by following the Law. The first step to living a God-honoring life is to understand you have disobeyed God, just like everyone else, which means you are a sinner. 2. The Law helps us believe in Jesus Is verse 21 saying that we no longer have to follow any or all of God s commandments from the Old Testament? Explain your perspective. What s the difference between knowing Jesus died on the cross and having faith in Jesus as your personal Savior? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Our right standing with God (or righteousness) comes through belief in Jesus by faith. We must believe that Jesus gave himself as the sacrifice for our sin. This is more than just knowledge of Jesus death on the cross. We must have faith. Think of it like this: You may have knowledge that a chair will support you if you sit on it, but you demonstrate that you truly believe it will support you when you sit on the chair. 3. The Law helps us accept God s grace When was the last time you graciously forgave someone who hurt or betrayed you? Why did you choose to practice forgiveness? Why do you think God gives us the option of accepting or rejecting the gift of grace and forgiveness through Jesus? How would salvation be a different experience if God forced everyone to follow him? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: God is just. There had to be a sacrifice for our sin. God demonstrated grace by providing a sacrifice for us. Our sin did not go unpunished. But through Jesus, God compensated for our sin and wiped our slate clean, allowing us to live a life that is made perfect in his eyes through Jesus sacrifice on the cross. ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional] Do you think some sins are worse than others? Why or why not? Do you believe God sees some sins as worse than others? Why or why not? If everyone has sinned, why do we call some people good and others bad?
What are some things you do to convince yourself you re in good standing with God? If nothing we can do has the power to restore our relationship with God, why do we keep trying so hard? What do we have to do to accept God s grace? APPLICATION How do you know when something good has happened to a friend? What are some of the signs or clues? If the grace offered to us through Jesus sacrifice is so wonderful, why is it so easy for us to take for granted? How can you boast (or brag) about God s grace to your friends? SUMMARY End your lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or take-home challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the teaching and discussion time. FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE] Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins (Romans 3:23-24).